ADVERTISEMENT

SportGolf

Team USA Dominates Europe on First Day of 2021 Ryder Cup

The 43rd Ryder Cup is on its way since Friday at Whistling Straits. A year later than scheduled due to the pandemic of Covid 19, Europe is hoping to retain its crown after its 2018 success.

Still, team USA comes into the Ryder Cup as favorites, but that doesn’t always guarantee success.

Europe started excellent with Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia taking down Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas in the first match to score the first point of this competition.

It was the first time that Rahm and Garcia have played together, but they turned out to complement each other perfectly. Rahm was great on the greens, while Garcia showed his skill with the irons. It was clear the duo enjoy playing together.

The win means that Garcia is now the all-time points leader in the foursome and has also equaled with Nick Faldo’s 23 points overall.

However, the team USA held tough over the rest of the matches to sweep the rest of the morning program and hold a 3-1 lead heading into the afternoon four-ball session at Whistling Straits.

Rahm and Garcia took the first match 3&1 in a battle that was seen as potentially enormous. Spieth and Thomas battled back from an early deficit but could not go the distance.

The USA bounced back as Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa responded with a 3&2 win in Match 2 over Viktor Hovland and Paul Casey to get their team on the board.

Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay then won their match 3&2 over Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter, while Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger finished off the early morning session with a 2&1 win over Matthew Fitzpatrick and Lee Westwood.

Afternoon matches begin after 1 pm local time with no repeat pairings.